Strides against breast cancer

Whoever cooked up the campaign to walk for breast cancer had the right idea in more ways than one.

Because if you get your feet moving, you won’t just be raising awareness of this deadly disease. You’ll also be lowering your risk.

That’s the conclusion of a new study featuring a cohort of nearly 74,000 postmenopausal women. Researchers found that subjects who were the most active, reporting at least one hour of vigorous exercise daily, enjoyed a 25 percent lower risk of cancer.

But you don’t have to be a gym rat to see a benefit. Even women who simply walked for an hour every day saw significant protection–to the tune of a 14 percent reduction in breast cancer risk.

I always recommend daily walks. And this is a good example of why. Any activity–whether it’s biking, hiking, swimming, dancing, or pumping iron in your garage–can do more for your health than all the drugs on the market.

But if a leisurely stroll is all you can manage, this study is published proof that sometimes, that’s all the workout you need.

Source:
“Recreational Physical Activity and Leisure-Time Sitting in Relation to Postmenopausal Breast Cancer Risk.” Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2013 Oct;22(10):1906-1912.